Pasted below from a Reddit link:

r/Mastodon
• [deleted]

QOTO.org: an inclusive, STEM-focued instance supporting Academic Freedom

In light of many complaints that some Mastodon communities are excessively touchy and block-happy, I want to bring awareness to the excellent instance at QOTO -- "question others to teach ourselves". This is a STEM-focused instance that attempts to embody the ideals of Academic Freedom -- allowing users to listen to whatever they wish as long as they do not abuse others or spread hateful ideologies.

https://qoto.org/about/more

I'm promoting this specific instance because they have been getting pushback from the larger Mastodon community over their 'open federation' policy -- ultimately causing them to be dropped from the 'joinmastodon' directory. QOTOs only has a blanket ban on a few other instances, and otherwise provides users with the option to activate the 'fediblock' blocklist on their own account by importing a CSV file.

While many Mastodon users will value having a more heavily moderated experience that errors on the side of blocking inappropriate content, I think the social network as a whole benefits from having a some major nodes that error on the side of allowing speech.

Please check it out if you are interested in STEM. The server is functioning well, and I've had a good experience over there (but granted, I haven't posted much that would draw the attention of bigots).

Edit: STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Math

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https://www.reddit.com/r/Mastodon/comments/z09ioa/qotoorg_an_inclusive_stemfocued_instance/